International rescue needed by Sven

Having stumbled inexplicably at the very threshold of a glorious triumph, England's players must be wondering today whether the Gods of football are likely to deliver any further thunderbolts here in Portugal.

It was painfully difficult for Sven-Goran Eriksson and his players to come to terms with the extraordinary manner of their 2-1 defeat to the defending champions France.

For drama this ranked alongside France's last-gasp win over Italy in the Euro 2000 final and Manchester United's epic win over Bayern Munich in the Champions League Final a year earlier.

As a calamity it's right up there with England's World Cup quarterfinal defeat in 1970 when Sir Alf Ramsey's champions threw away a two-goal lead against West Germany in the final 20 minutes.

A memorable start to the European Championship was only moments from ratification when Zinedine Zidane broke English hearts with two goals in 90 seconds in time added on for injuries.

It had been an absorbing, compelling spectacle in which England's organisation and discipline had successfully defied bold, attacking football from the French.

Eriksson's late removal of the bullish Wayne Rooney didn't help but that alone was no explanation for what happened in injury time.

"We didn't deserve that," said the England coach. "One free-kick and one penalty ruined the evening for us."

Well, not quite. Two penalties ruined the evening. David Beckham would have added to Frank Lampard's 38th-minute goal, but for his former Manchester United club-mate Fabien Barthez making a wonderful save from his penalty in the 72nd minute. Had that gone in the game would probably have been safe.

Jacques Santini, the French coach who is shortly to join Tottenham, considered the save by Barthez to be the turning point of the match.

"It was a marvellous save that really restored our confidence at an important moment," he said.

Three minutes after the Barthez save Eriksson took off Rooney and Paul Scholes and replaced them with Emile Heskey and Owen Hargreaves.

He claimed Rooney was tiring but it was his powerful run a few moments earlier that had prompted the reckless tackle from Mikael Silvestre that earned England the penalty.

Rooney was one of England's most effective players. He was like a young bull rampaging his way through the French defence and they were greatly relieved to see the back of him. His most significant contribution came in the deep positions where his energy and belligerence gnawed at the French midfield.

His tackling earned him plenty of the ball and, believing the result secure, Eriksson probably thought it wiser to spare him the risk of injury or the referee's retribution and save him for Thursday's game with Switzerland in Coimbra.

Whatever the reason, the absence of the irritating Rooney gave the French more time to explore their attacking options as an enthralling game approached its conclusion.

England had followed Eriksson's game plan to the letter. Defending from a deep back line, with the central areas crowded, England gave Thierry Henry no room in which to get behind the defence and use his pace.

Sol Campbell and Ledley King looked so composed and secure as a centre-back partnership that I see no need to hurry John Terry back from his hamstring injury. Together they restricted Henry and David Trezeguet to little more than an occasional-glimpse of goal. King, the Tottenham centre-back, was playing his first competitive match for England.

"He was absolutely fantastic," said Eriksson. "Not nervous at all. I don't think he could have done very much better."

Eriksson deserves credit for getting the tactics right. "He made it a very difficult match for us," said Santini.

The French hadn't conceded a goal for 11 matches when Lampard rose above their defence to powerfully head home Beckham's right-wing free-kick. In truth, it was England's only real assault on the French goal in a first half that was dominated by the powerful attacking runs of Robert Pires and Zidane.

The second-half was more evenly balanced though the quality of England's creative play was so indifferent at times that the service to Michael Owen was practically non-existent. He was eventually replaced by Darius Vassell in the 69th minute.

What couldn't be questioned was the depth of England's commitment or the fervour of the fans who outnumbered the French by three to one in the 65,000 capacity stadium. "We should be proud of what we did and I don't think we deserved that ending at all," insisted Eriksson.

"We were very unlucky. You can't really control a team like France because they have so many options going forward but they didn't create too many chances."

That is true but, like England, they made the most of their set-pieces. A free-kick needlessly given away by Heskey just outside the area provided Zidane with the perfect opportunity to score the equaliser. David James didn't even move as the free-kick swept past him.

A minute later Steven Gerrard's underhit backpass let in Henry, who was brought down in the penalty area by David James. Once again Zidane strode forward and placed his penalty wide of the England goalkeeper.

The instant the match restarted, after three minutes of injury time, the referee blew the final whistle. James couldn't believe it. Nor could Eriksson, those in the stadium nor those watching at home. How do you recover from such a set-back? "Had we lost 3-0 and not created a chance it would be different," said Eriksson. "But the players did everything that was asked of them. The important thing is that they keep their heads up because we could still meet France again in the final."

England may have to win their next two games - against Switzerland and Croatia - to have a chance of doing that.

That's not impossible but they are pointless at the bottom of Group B and the biggest hurdle for them now is psychological.